Statoil shares jump on earnings, progress on costs

* Beats forecasts with Q4 adjusted EBIT

* Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in best performance in seven years

* Plans $13 bln capex, down from $14.7 bln spent last year (Recasts, adds comments, cost-cutting details, shares)

By Gwladys Fouche and Stine Jacobsen

OSLO/LONDON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - Statoil (Xetra: 675213 - news) cheered investors on Thursday with better-than-expected profits, progress in lowering breakeven prices for important projects and a modest spending plan for 2016.

The Norwegian energy company like its international rivals is reining in costs as oil trades at its lowest levels in more than a decade.

It (Other OTC: ITGL - news) reported a fourth-quarter adjusted operating profit of 15.2 billion crowns ($1.78 billion), down 43 percent from a year earlier but better than the 13.9 billion expected by analysts polled by Reuters.

Its shares surged on the news in their best performance in seven years. They were trading up 7 percent at 116.8 crowns as of 1358 GMT.

Statoil announced a quarterly dividend of $0.2201 per share and pledged to keep it at that level for the first three quarters of this year despite calls from labour unions and some politicians to reduce payouts.

Investors for the next two years will be able to take their dividends in cash or in discounted new Statoil shares, it said.

"We would have preferred to see a rebasement rather than share dilution, although this now brings Statoil in line with most of the sector," RBC Capital Markets analyst Biraj Borkhataria said.

The Norwegian government separately confirmed it would back the dividend scheme and retain its 67 percent stake in Statoil.

COSTS

Statoil said it plans capital spending of about $13 billion this year after lowering its outlay in 2015 to $14.7 billion from a planned $16.5 billion.

"Cost deflation has visibly intensified offshore Norway in the past year and this is clearly reflected in today's low capex (capital expenditure) guidance," said Redburn analyst Rob West, who holds a 'neutral' rating on Statoil.

"For long-termist shareholders, I believe Statoil's outlook has now improved," West said.

Statoil also reported it could now break even in projects set to start production by 2022 with oil at $41 per barrel, down from $70 in 2013. It said capital expenditure had fallen below $50 per barrel on 82 percent of its projects versus just 29 percent in 2013.

Breakeven on the first phase of the giant Johan Sverdrup North Sea oilfield had fallen to below $30 per barrel from an earlier estimate of under $40, it said.

"We are well placed to capture the full gains (of the cost-cutting) when the oil price recovers," CEO Eldar Saetre told an investors' seminar.

Brent crude was trading at $34.47 at 1320 GMT.

Oil prices have fallen by 70 percent since mid-2014, forcing and gas firms to cut costs.

ExxonMobil and Royal Dutch Shell (Xetra: R6C1.DE - news) this week also announced plans to cut spending.

($1 = 8.5499 Norwegian crowns) (Additional reporting by Terje Solsvik and Ole Petter Skonnord; editing by Greg Mahlich and Jason Neely)